April / May news

Dear friends and family,
Have you missed us? Well, I know I miss hearing from all of you. It has been so busy, and because I have a blog and find that I often put all my thoughts down there, I haven't been as faithful to send out notes to keep you all updated to what we have been up to.
I know you got Scott's letter that shared about our future plans, and we are excited to see how that will all come together. Of course, right now we are just trying to make it through the next two weeks without exploding. It is the usual end-of-year activities, and they are always busy for us as Scott is busy making shows about each of the Seniors (5 in this year's class) and he is also finalizing the yearbook and preparing to print (900 pages) and send off to be bound. But to top it all off, we are the Junior Sponsors so we have been working all year with them to pull off an amazing Junior-Senior Banquet. Because of how life is on a school base this becomes the event of the year. Everyone involved here at the school is invited, and we also let the Seniors invite close friends and family. There is a theme and a set that is put together that creates a whole " feel" for the evening. Last year it was a soccer field and cup winners (their countries ) were represented in the menu. I would love to tell you what it will be this year, but you have to wait until the 17th - it is a BIG secret!!! So Scott is busy with the construction team of Juniors and parents, I am busy with the cook planning the menu and food prep, and decorating with the Juniors. It is fun, but yes, a bit of pressure.
Scott is also extra busy this time of year as he has personal presentations to finish for the families heading to the states (3 this year). It would be nice if he could have done these earlier, but honestly he hasn't had a minute, so it gets put off until it has to be done. They will be done in time, and he will crash afterward.
I am also busy planning a night event for our final week (the 20th). The elementary kids are putting on a play and performing 3 choir numbers. I am also organizing other specials, piano, music etc. It is fun, and we do so enjoy seeing the kids use all their talents, and they really shine during these days.
Last night was our final home ec. supper, a five course meal. Wish we could have invited everyone, but just 10 was a crowd. I have enjoyed getting to know these girls on a more personal level. They have done a lot of work in different areas, sewing, and cooking. I love seeing how much they have changed and grown this year. I could almost ( I said almost) leave it to them, but I did just kind of tell them when to do everything, and I didn't have to give them much instructions besides that. We have 2 classes left and we are hoping to make some teddy bears during that time??? I might end of finishing them.
Life would be stressful enough with all this going on, but you wouldn't believe what else we have had to deal with these days. In Maine, the banks had a real mess when one of the grocery stores was hacked into, and then the fraud was seeming to be perpetrated here in Brazil!!! So they shut down our bank cards, and this after months of barely making it from month to month (certainly no extra money here that we could use to make it through these tough days.) The dollar has been falling daily, and our support has dropped. Then after that we had a month with almost no extras left after we paid our bills at head quarters. The worst part, though, if you can imagine. Was our computer's power supply burned out ( due to the dust) and we were without a computer just when we needed it most. This last week!!! We needed to write to some churches and contact people to find out where our money was and we had no e-mail address at hand. But amazingly, God gave us peace through these days, and we are finally starting to feel like it will all work out. Some extra money has come in, and we might get all our bills paid. It has been a lesson in trusting and resting that is for sure.
Pray for us when you think of us these next weeks. They will be busy. Scott preached this morning about finishing strong and loving each other through these stressful days. It was an appropriate message for these days.
Thanks so much for your part in our lives. For your love and support. We couldn't be here serving Him and his people if it wasn't for you!!
Love
Jenny for the family